A Royal Visit
by scottsman
Summary: a real life princess and her mother the Queen come to Pine Hollow for their Vacation. friendships, Trouble, and more ensue.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

All of Pine Hollow was abuzz. Earlier that morning Max had called everyone into the lounge. He had an announcement to make. When everyone was finally assembled Max spoke.

"Pine hollow is expecting a very important visitor later this afternoon," he said, "I have just been informed that Princess Katherine of Aragon and Her mother the Queen are Coming to Pine Hollow for a few weeks!"

Princess Katherine was the crown princess of a small but powerful and prominent southern European country. She was also no older than the Saddle Club girls.

"What," Said Lisa, "How did a princess find out about a quiet little place like Pine Hollow!?"

"Apparently from that Article that the Magazine Equestrian International did about us," Max Replied, "Apparently her royal highness came across the article, liked what she saw, and convinced her mom that this was the place they should come on their Vacation."

"Of course I'll take charge of entertaining her Highness while she's here." Said Veronica

"Why you," snapped Melanie

"Because, a Princess is a person of breeding and stature not unlike myself." Sniffed Veronica

At this most of the girls in the room rolled their eyes. By now most people at Pine Hollow were used to Veronica's pomposity.

"Arrogance, thy name is Veronica," whispered Stevie just loud enough for the other Saddle Club Members to hear her.

Lisa and Carole snickered. Just then Mrs. Reg spoke up.

"Now I expect all of you to make sure that the princess and her mother have a nice time. That means behave yourselves."

Now, about three hours later, the whole stable was still buzzing with excitement. Veronica and Kristy were in the lounge planning out the princess's entire itinerary for her. Besides riding of course the envisioned a stay complete with fancy dinners at the country club, concerts by the Willow Creek Chamber orchestra, and a host of other things that sounded really boring to the Saddle Club. Stevie was getting a drink out of the refrigerator. When Lisa and Carole came blasting in.

"Stevie," they said almost in unison, "Come quick, the Queen and Princess's horses are here!" the girls raced out side and watched as the expensive horse trailer, which had just pulled up, was unloaded. The first horse to emerge was the princess's horse it was a silver andalusian grey with a black mane and tail. The second horse that was unloaded was a beautiful black mare. The royal stable hand that had been driving the truck. A man named Silas finished the check in with Max and grabbing the black mare's lead rope lead the horse to its stall. A girl wearing Jeans, a white button up blouse, and a baseball cap with her long braided dark hair pulled through the adjustment band in the back of the hat got out of the truck and lead the Andalusian into the Stables as well.

"You'd think that a girl, who was the princess's personal stable hand, would have enough sense to dress a little better than that." Veronica snorted, as she watched the girl.

Stevie gave the back of Veronica's head and leaned over to Carole, as they walked back into the stables.

"One of these days I am going to punch her in the nose." She growled.

"Simmer down Stevie," said Lisa, "Veronica will put both feet in her mouth eventually, she always does."

A few seconds later they reached the new andalusian grey's stall. The girl they saw earlier was there grooming the horse.

"Wow," said Carole, "That is a magnificent horse."

The girl looked up and smiled,

"The princess would agree with you," she said, "She really loves this horse. His name is Echo." The girls all said hello to Echo. The friendly grey nuzzled their hands.

Just then Veronica came walking by with Kristy at her heels. She walked past the Saddle Club and up the stairs to max's office.

"Max," she complained, "You said the Princess would be here this afternoon, if she doesn't get here soon we won't have time for that private dinner I arranged at the country club. They won't hold the private dining room forever!"

"What do you want me to do?" said Max sounding a little exasperated for once, "I can't hurry the princess up!"

"Is she always like that?" asked the girl stable hand,

"Worse," said Stevie.

"By the way," said the girl, "My name is K.C."

"Oh I'm Stevie," replied the tall blonde, "and these are my friends Carole and Lisa." The girls exchanged greetings. Suddenly Stevie looked at her watch.

"Hey guys," she said, "We'd better tack up, it's time for our dressage lesson." the others nodded.

"We'll see you later, K.C." said Lisa as the girls hurried off toward the tack room. A few minutes later they were riding past one of the practice rings. When Lisa saw a heart wrenching sight, the Royal head stable hand, a hard faced green eyed man named Raul, who had arrived in his own truck, was on the Black mare riding the horse hard around the ring. And the horse was getting lathered up, but Raul wouldn't let him stop and kept slapping his flank with a riding crop.

"Raul," cried Silas, "What are you doing?! That's the Queen's horse!"

"This smart aleck tried to throw me," snapped Raul, "I'm teaching him a lesson." Lisa jumped off Prancer and ran over to the fence.

"Stop," she cried, "you're going to kill her!"

Raul ignored the girl's pleas. Lisa jumped the fence and ran into the ring in front of the horse. the horse reared violently and Raul landed in the dirt. Lisa stood there comforting the horse.

"It's okay," she said soothingly, "It's over!" Raul was even more enraged. He jumped up.

"You little twit!" he thundered, "are you trying to make me break my neck!?" he turned on Max who had just come running up to the fence.

"I'm telling the queen about this, Regnery!" he raged

"So am I!" snapped another voice. Raul whirled around only to get a riding crop across the face hard enough to break the skin. He hit the ground from the blow and looked up in surprise holding his bloody cheek.

The girls were surprised to see a furious K.C. standing there looking Raul fearlessly in the eyes. But they were even more surprised at the fear in Raul's eyes, and even more surprised at the two words that escaped the man's lips.

"Your highness!"

 **To be Continued…**

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	2. Chapter 2

A royal visit 2

Chapter 2

Everybody stared at K.C. and wondered if they had hear Raul right had he just addressed that girl stable hand as your highness. Fortunately this had taken place in the more secluded of the two rings that Pine Hollow had and only Max, Silas, Raul and the Saddle club were close enough to hear what was going on. K.C. was speaking again.

"Yes," snapped K.C., "It's me Raul. And when my mother gets here, she is going to be mad as hell when she finds out that you tried to ride her horse into the ground!"

"The Queen p-pays me to train her horse," stammered Raul

"She doesn't pay you to founder her horse or Kill it!" raged K.C., "Now get up!" Raul scrambled to his feet.

"Raul," she snapped once he was on his feet, "You are relieved of your duties. You will go to Max Regnery's office and stay there until my mother arrives!" she turned to the other man.

"Silas." She said, "You will walk Blaze until she's bone dry and then take her back to her stall!"

Silas nodded and hurried to do as he was told. K.C. turned and walked back toward her horse. She paused in front of Lisa as she went.

"Thanks, Lisa," she said, "That was very brave of you."

"You're welcome, your highness." Said Lisa

"It's K.C.," she replied, "I'm still the same girl you met five minutes ago in Echo's stall." K.C. Mounted up and she and the Saddle Club girls rode over to the Dressage ring. Just after they got there, Veronica showed up. "

She turned up her nose as she rode past K.C. to her place in the line.

"Some Princess," she muttered, " first she's over two hours late and now she's Letting a stable hand ride her horse, and after 45 minutes on the phone, the Aragonian Consulate still won't tell me anything"

Stevie stifled a giggle and leaned over to the other Saddle club members.

"Veronica Doesn't know," she whispered, "She was in Max's office on the phone when K.C. clobbered Raul, she doesn't know that K.C. _is_ the princess!"

Max was about to say something to Veronica when he saw K.C. put a finger to her lips and shake her head subtly. Until the Princess said differently only Max, Silas, Raul and the Saddle club would know who K.C. really was. A smile teased at the corner of Max's mouth as he realized what was going on. The princess was going to let Veronica dig herself in a deeper first.

He turned to the rest of the students.

"I have an announcement to make." He said, "Before I came out here I got a phone call. The Queen's secretary informed me that the queen has been unavoidably detained. Apparently somebody back in Aragon blabbed to the UN that her majesty was coming and now she has to go and make an appearance at some conference.

"Can't the King do it?" Melanie asked

"The king died eleven years ago." Said K.C. quietly, "So It's just the Queen and the Princess now."

"I'm Sorry," said Melanie embarrassed.

"It's Okay," said K.C., "You didn't know."

The rest of the riding lesson went fine. Even Veronica was impressed by how well K.C. handled Echo. Not that she would admit that a stable hand had impressed her. After the Lesson, K.C. and the Saddle went on a short hack. As they rode the Saddle Club appraised their new friend. She was actually quite pretty her hair was thick and dark brown like Lisa's and she had gray eyes and she was also the same height as Lisa. The thing that intrigued them the most about her was that she didn't act that much like they thought a princess would. She was down to earth and friendly and it was amazingly easy to feel comfortable talking to her.

Finally Lisa asked a question that had been bugging her.

"K.C.," What does K.C. stand for?" K.C. smiled.

"My first and Middle names," she replied, "Katherine Clarisse, and just in case you're interested, my surname is Lenoir. It was actually my mother who started calling me K.C. I liked the nickname and it just stuck."

"Now, there is something that I would like to ask you," said K.C.

"Shoot," said Stevie

"Ever since I got here I have heard several of the other girls talking about something called the Saddle Club, do you know what it is?" Lisa Carole and Stevie exchanged smiles before Carole replied.

"You're looking at it," she said

"Huh?" K.C. said confused.

"We're the Saddle Club," said Lisa, "Carole Stevie and me, Those girls were talking about us."

"We'll fill you in on the way back to the stables," said Stevie looking at her watch, "we don't want to miss supper."

Two hours later the girls were back and Pine Hollow and their horses were out the Paddock getting acquainted. It was also the weekend of the annual overnight at Pine Hollow so the girls were spending the night. It was suppertime. Max had built a fire in the campfire ring and had placed a large iron cooking kettle over it. Inside simmering in a thick savory brown broth were vegetables potatoes and beef in a concoction that Max and the Saddle club had christened Trailblazer stew.

Once Max was convinced that the stew was properly cooked and seasoned. He rang the dinner bell, and was almost run over by a stampede. He was saved in the nick of time by a sharp whistle from his mother. The kids stopped in their tracks.

"Line up," she barked. The kids lined up and walked past Max as he dished the stew out into the bowls that each of them carried.

"Max is hopeless," griped Veronica, as and Kristy found themselves at the end of the line, "Here he's got two royal visitors on their way and he makes Trailblazer Stew. A gourmet like the Princess of Aragon wouldn't eat one bowl of this junk!"

"You know, she's right," said K.C., "The Princess wouldn't eat one bowl of this stuff! Two or Three bowls maybe but not one." The girls all fell into a fit of giggles that earned them a funny look from Veronica.

Stevie leaned over to the others with an almost gleeful expression on her face.

"I can't wait to see the look on Veronica's face when she finally finds out who K.C. really is!"

 **To Be Continued….**

In the next Chapter the queen arrives and Max is in for a shock.

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	3. Chapter 3

A Royal Visit 3

Chapter 3

The supper line was just winding down when Max finally got his own share of the stew to eat. He was sitting on log nearby, between his mother and Deborah, eating, when a long white stretch limo with Aragon flags on either side of the hood, pulled up.

"This must be the Queen," said Mrs. Regnery, Jumping up from her seat next to Max. she started toward the limo about the time it stopped. The Chauffer jumped out and opened the passenger door. Out stepped the queen. As the queen stepped out, the chauffer announced her.

"Her Royal Majesty, Queen Renee Lenoir of Aragon."

She was taller than Deborah but shorter than Max. She had long thick dark brown hair and grey eyes like her daughter.

Mrs. Reg extended had in greeting and was stunned when, instead of shaking her hand the queen pulled her into a big hug.

"Mrs. Reg," she said with a huge smile, "It is so good to see you again!" Mrs. Reg smiled while racking her brain at the same time. Wondering where she could possibly know a queen from! Before she could come up with an answer, the queen spotted Max. She let go of Mrs. Reg and ran over to Max, and to Deborah and everyone else's great surprise, the Queen threw her arms around Max.

"Max." she said, "It is so good to see you again!" Max looked confused. The queen noticed this.

"Max," she said, "Don't you remember me?" Max started to shake his head.

"Here," said the queen, "Maybe this will jog your memory!" she pulled the fancy beret out of her hair and divided it into two pigtails. Max's eyes widened.

"I don't believe it," he said, "High school, Macpherson's class, third row, forth seat, smart mouth! You're Renee Whittaker!"

"Yes!" the queen nodded with a grin. This time Max scooped her up in a bear hug.

Just then Deborah cleared her throat loudly.

"Oh sorry," said Max, "I was so surprised I forgot my manners, Deborah this is Renee. She and I were classmates in high school. Renee this is Deborah Hale my fiancé."

Queen Renee greeted Deborah warmly.

"Now I remember you," said Mrs. Reg, "Max took you to the junior prom and the senior prom."

"What?!" said a dozen voices in unison.

"Oh so that's it," said Deborah, "Queen Renee is an old girlfriend." That started a chorus of whispers among the student riders.

"I wouldn't go that far," said Max nervously

"You didn't have any trouble going that far on prom night." Renee quipped

Max turned red and face palmed. And Deborah and Mrs. Reg looked sideways at Max.

"Renee, I think you and I should talk," said Deborah.

"I'm in trouble," muttered Max

"Max dated a Queen?" said Veronica incredulously.

"She wasn't a queen then," said Max, having heard Veronica, "At that time she was just Renee Whittaker our class's smart-mouthed treasurer."

"And Max was the class hunk," added Renee. More blood filled Max's face. And the girls broke out in giggles.

"Renee!" he cried mortified

"Well it's true," said Renee, "every girl in that class was falling all over you. You were just too dumb to know it."

A fresh wave of giggles swept though the girls.

"Girls," said Mrs. Reg, "if you are all done eating why don't you go check on your horses and then decide where you are going to sleep."

"Ah rats," said Stevie, "This was just getting good."

"Go," said Max the color of his face returning to normal. Before the girls could move, Veronica in her usual haughty manner walked up to the queen.

"Your Majesty," she said, "My name is Veronica Di Angelo of the family Di Angelo, I just wanted to know if the princess was aware that her stable hand, K.C. is riding her horse?" As Veronica was saying this the Queen made eye contact with her daughter K.C. who was sitting nearby flanked by the Saddle Club. K.C. winked at her.

"I really don't think that it is proper thing to do, even as good as K.C. seems to be." Veronica continued.

"K.C. come here please," said the queen, looking serious, K.C. stood up and walked over to the Queen. Veronica stood nearby with irritatingly smug look on her face.

"Yes my Queen," said K.C.

"Is what this girl says, true? You rode Echo in Max's dressage lesson."

"Yes," replied K.C. without hesitation, "I passed his test with flying colors too." At this the queen broke into a wide smile. She kissed the top of her daughter's head.

"Good for you, my Dear!" she said

"Thanks, Mom," said K.C.

Veronica looked like a girl who had just swallowed her entire foot. The Saddle club took one look at Veronica's face and burst out laughing.

Veronica flashed a look of realization and glared at them.

"You knew," she snapped, "You knew who K.C. was all along didn't you ?!"

"Only, since she and Lisa stopped Raul from riding Blaze to death!" replied Stevie

"Raul did What?!" thundered the Queen

"He got mad that Blaze tried to throw him," said K.C., "She was lathered up already by the time he was discovered and stopped by Lisa, I have no doubt that he hadn't been stopped he'd of ridden Blaze to death!"

"Where is he?" snapped the Queen

"I confined him to Max's office until you arrived," replied the Princess. The Queen stormed off to Max's office with Max leading the way. Veronica didn't give two figs for what Raul and done, she was still sore at the girls for not telling her about K.C.

"How dare you do this to me," she snapped. She turned to Red who was just passing by on his way toward the stables, "Red, insist that you make them muck out stalls for what they did to me."

"Veronica," said Red rolling his eyes, "All they did was let you make a Jackass out of yourself out of your own conceit."

Veronica huffed and stomped off toward the stables. The Saddle Club girls headed back toward the stables themselves. Just as they walked in, they heard the sound of a punch landing and Raul came tumbling head over heads down the stairs. He landed in a heap and Stevie's feet. His left eye was already turning black. The girls looked up and saw the queen at the top of the stairs shaking out her hand.

"Raul, you get out of my sight," she snapped, "You're fired and I'm going to make sure that you never work with horses again!"

Raul dragged himself to his feet and half walked, half staggered out the door.

Max, who was watching from inside the office, just shook his head.

" _She hasn't changed a bit,"_ he thought he was brought back to reality by the sound of typing behind him. He turned and saw Deborah typing for all she was worth.

"Deborah," he said, "What are you doing?"

"Are you kidding?" said Deborah, "Max Regnery old friend and former prom date of Aragon Queen who has come home to visit. What a story!" Max pulled the laptop away from her.

"A story you can't write!" he said

 **To Be Continued…..**

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	4. Chapter 4

A Royal Visit 4

Chapter 4

Deborah looked up at Max in surprise.

"Why can't I write it." She said

"Because," said the Queen, "The minute that story gets in to the paper everybody and his brother is going to know where we are. I rather avoid that as long as possible. My daughter and I came here to relax."

Max nodded.

"So can you wait until after they leave to write the story?" Deborah sighed. Like any good reporter she was always worried that someone was going to scoop her. But the queen was very nice and Deborah decided that the least she could do was make sure that the Queen had a pleasant stay.

"All right," she said, "I'll sit on the story until after the queens trip is over."

"Thank you," said the Queen

The Saddle Club girls decided that they would sleep up in the hayloft and began laying out there sleeping bags. Veronica and Kristy decided that they would sleep in the lounge.

"Why don't you join us Your Highness," said Veronica

"No thank you," said K.C. I'll be staying up in the hayloft with the Saddle Club."

"Why would you want to sleep in the hay with those losers?!" snapped Veronica. At this K.C.'s usual laid back personality and pleasant manner disappeared. She squared her shoulders and looked Veronica and Kristy in the eyes.

"Two reasons," she said, "First those 'Losers' are my friends and second, I can't stand spoiled rich brats who think that they're better than everyone else just because they're better off. You're both too busy looking down your nose at everybody else to see what they're really like. You know something, that's a really lonely way of living your life."

` With that K.C. turned and walked up the stairs into the hayloft with the rest of the girls leaving Veronica and Kristy in stunned silence.

The next morning everyone in the stable was jolted away by the sound of a fire alarm going off! It was the one in the lounge. Veronica was jarred away so violently that she fell off the couch and hit the ground with a thump. Max and the rest of the girls came running in to see what was wrong. They found smoke billowing from the toaster and Deborah trying in vain to get it to turn loose of the slice of bread that was now being turned to charcoal inside it.

"Max," she sputtered coughing from the smoke, "This toaster is busted!"

Max hurried over and hit the side of the toaster with his fist and the bread popped up. It was burned black. Then he reached up and took the battery out of the smoke alarm. He turned and smirked at Deborah.

"It works fine, you just have to know where to hit it?" he grinned he pulled out the blackened piece of bread and handed it to Deborah.

"Would you like some butter or Jelly with your charcoal?" he smirked

"Very funny," said Deborah. She threw the burnt toast in the trash can and Max told the girls to open the doors and air out the smoke.

"Well," said K.C., "Are all mornings at Pine Hollow this exciting?"

"Only when my fiancé tries to make toast." Said Max, he was promptly hit in the back of the head with a wet dish rag.

. A few minutes later after all the smoke had cleared. Breakfast preparations resumed. After a breakfast of scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage and toast. The girls all hit the trail. All the way up the trail to eagle crag, Veronica glared jealously at the Saddle club as K.C. rode beside them and more or less ignored her.

Behind the girls rode Mrs. Reg, Deborah, Max, and Queen Renee. As they rounded a corner in the trail Carole turned in her saddle and spoke to Queen Renee.

"Your majesty," she said. Renee held up her hand.

"It's Renee," she said, with a smile, "That 'your majesty' business is only for formal occasions."

"All right," said Carole, "Renee, where did you learn to ride? So fancy riding school in Europe?"

"Oh no," said Renee, "I learned to ride long before I married the crown prince of Aragon, at a little stables that was out in the countryside and surrounded by the some of the best riding trails around. Perhaps you've heard of it. It's called Pine Hollow Stables."

At this Carole and the other Saddle Club girls grinned.

"That's why I was so thrilled when my daughter told me where she wanted to go for our vacation," said the Queen, "I'd been dying to see this place again!"

After the group got back to the stables, Veronica announced that she was going into town to get her hair and nails done.

"Didn't she just have that done yesterday before she came here?" asked Lisa

"This is Veronica, we're talking about," Said Stevie, "she probably goes to the beauty parlor every day."

Lisa and Carole had to admit that Stevie had a point. A few hours later the Saddle club and K.C. were back out on the trail taking part in Max's Scavenger hunt. They were on their way to get the next item on their list, a rock from the highest point of the ridge trail. They had reached their destination and had just dismounted when they suddenly heard a faint clicking sound. It was the sound of a camera.

K.C. and the girls whirled around to find a disheveled looking man in a ratty jacket snapping pictures furiously.

"Paparazzi!" K.C. snapped, "How did they find me?!"

Suddenly the creepy shutterbug was grabbed from behind by Red. Red grabbed the camera and threw it over the edge of the cliff into the lake.

"Hey," the man snapped, "That was private property!"

"Yeah and you're trespassing," snapped Red, "So I think that makes us even." As Red turned the man around to personally escort him to the property line, the girls spotted what looked like a newspaper in his pocket.

K.C. grabbed it out of the man's pocket. She opened and saw her picture and her mother's picture on the front page. The headline read. _**Royal Visit to Pine Hollow.**_

"Oh no," said K.C., "The Cats out of the bag!"

The girls and Red jumped up on their horses and rode back toward Pine hollow. Red explained that he had been up on the trial to secretly keep and an eye on Veronica and Kristy. Max had been having him do this ever since Veronica and Kristy had been caught cheating during the mystery weekend. He had been just about head back to the stables when he spotted the trespassing shutterbug.

By the time the girls got back to Pine Hollow, K.C. was livid. She stormed into the lounge and slammed the paper down on the table in front of Veronica and everyone else in the lounge.

"Alright," she snapped, "Somebody talked, Who!"

 **TO BE CONTINUED…**

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	5. Chapter 5

A Royal Visit 5

Chapter 5

Veronica looked at the paper and then looked at K.C.

"Who talked about what?" she said,

"Red just caught a paparazzi photographer stalking me up on the trail," snapped K.C., "They're not supposed to know where I am! They only people who knew where I was were a few of the staff back home and you people here."

"How do you know it wasn't one those people back home who blabbed?" asked Kristy

"Because, they were under strict orders not to tell anyone!" K.C. Replied

Just then Red who had been putting his tack back in the tack room came running in.

"K.C.," he said, "I didn't get the chance to tell you earlier but when I threw that sleazy shutterbug off the property I got him to admit who told him you and your mother were here."

"Who!?" said K.C.

"The name he game was Cora Lee Baker." Immediately there was a collective groan from most of the girls in the room.

"Veronica," snapped Stevie, "You blabbed to Cora Lee?!"

"Who is this Cora Lee?" asked K.C.

"She runs the Beauty Parlor that Veronica and Kristy go to," replied Lisa

"Yeah," said Stevie, "and she's got the biggest mouth in the state!"

"Yeah," said Carole, "Anything you tell her the rest of the hemisphere will know in five minutes flat!"

"Oh brother," said K.C. "I'd better go talk to my mother about this!" with that she turned and headed out the door toward Max's office.

After she had gone the girls turned on Veronica and Kristy. For once the two snobbish girls looked uneasy under the withering glares of their peers.

"You just had to brag didn't you," growled Stevie, "and now K.C. and her mother may have to cut their vacation short to avoid the avalanche of Photographers that are going to be rolling in here!"

Before Veronica could say anything K.C. returned with her mother, Max, Deborah, and Mrs. Reg at her heels. Max looked anything but happy as he stepped in front of the group.

"All right students," he said sternly, "I'm sure that you're all aware of the situation that were are now in with Renee and K.C."

Everybody in the room nodded and Max continued,

"Let me first express how disappointed I am in the apparent lack of discretion of two of our students. Now as to what we do now that the Cat is out of the bag so to speak, with K.C. and her mother will not be leaving they will finish their vacation here. Now I've already spoken to my friend sheriff Collins and he is going to put the press and paparazzi on noticed that they will go to jail if they set foot on Pine hollow land, However that does not mean they won't be waiting outside the gate."

Max paused a moment to take a breath and let his words sink in.

"Now we can't undo what's already been done," he continued, "Be we can give our guests as much privacy as possible from here on out. that means that under no circumstances are any of you to talk to the reports or paparazzi about the Queen or the princess. Do I make myself clear?!"

As he said that last sentence Max made a point of leveling a piercing stare at Veronica and Kristy who sank down in their chairs.

That night in Aragon….

The Chancellor Sir Janus Ivan was standing in the drawing room of his estate. He was with two other men. A tall gaunt man with a pale look to his skin and dark hair and a shorter stocky man with green eyes and rust colored hair. They were both well dressed and spoke like men of influence.

"Gentlemen," said Sir Janus, You are all here because like me you do not like the idea of a foreign born queen on the throne of Aragon, I'm sure you've heard about the recent events at our queen's chosen vacation spot. This, this Pine Hollow stables, well I have called for this meeting because I think that this turn of events is most fortunate and will greatly help our plan."

"How could that be," said the shorter man, "With all the people that will be gathered around Pine How it means that many more possible witnesses."

"On the contrary Sir Raphael," replied Sir Janus, "There more reporters and paparazzi there are the better. it will provide the perfect cover for our agent to slip in unnoticed and dispose of her Majesty the Queen of Aragon!"

"and the Princess too?" asked the tall man

"No not the princess," said Sir Janus, "After the tragic death of her Majesty. Princess Katherine with ascend the throne under the watchful eye and advice of her dear uncle Janus.

 **TO Be Continued…..**

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	6. Chapter 6

A Royal Visit6

Chapter 6

Max's prediction about the reporters and the paparazzi was proved true by supper time that night. There as a veritable army of Media personal camped outside the Pine Hollow gate. Every time a Car would come in our out they would jump to their feet until the realize that it wasn't the Royals.

The Saddle Club and the rest of the students agreed amongst themselves to keep and eye on Veronica and Kristy. This of course was just to make sure that they obey Max about not talking to the reporters.

Max, Red, Deborah, Mrs. Reg and Several of the other stable hands Made regular sweeps through the wooded areas on the property to make sure that no paparazzi was trying to sneak in. this move paid off. They caught several of the more unscrupulous types and the sheriff's deputy carted them off to the county jail.

While the girls were settling down for the night, a new face had appeared among the reporters outside the gate. He was dressed like any other paparazzi there in casual outdoor clothes. He had an expensive camera and everything else one might expect.

Later about midnight when most of the other photographers had retired to their various cars and sleeping bags, he slipped away from the group, and hopping the fence started through the woods. He had been there long enough to here about the other guys that got arrested but he was gambling that, since it was a little after midnight, everyone at Pine Hollow would be asleep by now.

So far it seemed that his guess was right. He knew from his intel that the queen was in guest house number 2. The Princess was camping up in the hayloft with her friends, which would make his job that much easier. The queen had been communicating with the home office keeping the apprised of the situation, and naturally the Chancellor was privy to these reports.

After he emerged from the woods near the stables he paused the shadow of the building and began pulling the pieces of a breakaway rifle out of the false bottom of the camera back he was carrying. He assembled it and started down the path toward the guest house. Inside the barn the horses suddenly started acting very fidgety. The noise they were making woke K.C. and the Saddle Club who came down to check on them.

"What's wrong, Prancer," said Lisa approaching the stall. Prancer was acting even more agitated than Belle and Starlight. Lisa opened the stall door. As soon as she did Prancer bolted the girls took off after her. Prancer turned down the path the mysterious man had taken as soon as she was outside the barn.

The mysterious assassin had arrived outside the guesthouse and had just figured out which bedroom the queen was in. he was just lining up his shot when suddenly her heard thundering hoofbeats behind him. He whirled around but he was too late all he got was horse rearing in his face. Prancer's flailing front hoof connected and sent the man sprawling. The gun when off sending a wild shut into the trees. The man scrambled to his feet but when he looked around for the gun he found that Prancer had come down on it full force. The stock of the gun was smashed, and the chamber was warped beyond repair. The darkness of the night was shattered by lights inside the guesthouse and the main house coming on. The man turned to run for it, but he didn't get very far. The girls who had arrived just in time to see what Prancer did, tackled him before he got two steps. Carol and Lisa each had grabbed a leg causing him to fall face down on the ground and Stevie was on top of him with her knee in the back of the guys neck.

Seconds later Max, Deborah, Red, Queen Renee and everyone else showed up. Max took one look at the busted gun and turned to Deborah.

"Call the sheriff," he said. Deborah nodded and pulled out her phone. While she was Making the Call Max and Red hauled the man to his feet. Queen Renee and K.C. both gasped when they saw the man's face.

"You know this man?" asked Max. Renee nodded

"His name is Gregor Matan," she replied, "He's head of security for the Aragonian Chancellor Janus Ivan."

"Would this Chancellor want to harm you?" asked Max

"Yeah," said Renee, "Though I am Queen of Aragon I wasn't born there remember, and he's a traditionalist who resents having a foreign-born queen on the throne."

"But you've been queen there for years," Said Carol, "Why has he waited this long to try something?"

"Well First he wouldn't have dared to try anything while my husband was alive, and second I suspect he wanted to wait until K.C. was old enough to take the throne if something happened to me."

"As if things weren't complicated enough," muttered Max, "Now we have to worry about assassins."

"Don't worry," said The Queen, she pointed to Gregor "This skuzz ball won't want to face treason and attempted murder charges on his own. The treason alone could get him the death sentence, do you Gregor?"

The Man shook his head Vehemently.

That's what I thought," said the Queen, "I'll tell My security chief, Edward to get some men to arrest Janus and hold him until I get back." She glared at Gregor one more time, "And you will testify against him."

"When will you be leaving?" asked Stevie, she and the girls looked at each other. While they were happy that everything turned out okay. They were still a little down at the thought of K.C. Leaving so soon.

"As soon as Patrick can get the Jet Ready," said the Queen

"We'll sure Miss you," said Lisa turned to K.C.

"You don't need to start missing her yet," said the Queen before K.C. could reply.

There girls all turned and looked at her confused.

"I said I would be leaving as soon as the jet was ready," she smiled, "I see no reason why K.C. shouldn't be allowed to stay here and finish her vacation."

"Besides," she added, "I have another idea," We'll make a big production of my leaving complete with motorcade and everything. It should fool the reporters into thinking that we've left and there's no point in hanging around. They'll leave and then as soon as I get Janus and his cronies sorted out I'll sneak back here. and we'll be back to the way it was before they found out where I was."

"Provided we can make sure that Veronica and her sidekick keep their big mouths shut this time." Added K.C.

 _ **There it is folks chapter 6 as requested.**_

 _ **TBC…..Please Read and Review.**_


	7. Chapter 7

A Royal Visit 7

Chapter 7

Queen Renee's plan was put into effect the next morning. She left Pine Hollow in the Limo with a full motorcade. Just as she predicted the reporters and the paparazzi immediately followed her to the airport where she boarded the royal jet back to Aragon. There was a petite woman with dark hair on the Queen's staff that was used as a body double for K.C. and the ruse worked perfectly.

A few days later after everything had been sorted out in Aragon, under the cover of night, Renee returned. A little while after greeting everyone again, Max and Red found her and Debora sitting in the lounge on the couch together laughing and having a good time.

Red turned to Max before the ladies realized that they were there and said,

"Doesn't it worry or surprise you that your fiancée and your old girlfriend are getting along so well?"

Max shrugged, "Why should it? Renee's not the jealous type."

"As far as I know the only thing that those two women have in common is you," replied Red, "so there's a good chance that it was you they were just laughing about."

"Now I'm worried,"

"About, what Deborah's telling Renee?" said Red

"No," said Renee," the two Men jumped and looked up to see Renee and Deborah looking back over the couch at them.

"He's probably more worried about what I'm telling Deborah," giggle Renee

Max shook his head,

"Queen or not she hasn't changed a bit."

Renee grabbed Deborah by the hand and pulled her up off the couch.

"Come one Deb," she said, "Let's go find another place for our girl talk where the boys won't eavesdrop on us,"

"You mean you have more stories about Max?" said Deborah

"Lady," Renee said, "The stories I can tell you about your boy toy here," Red's eyebrows shot into his hairline when both women stood up on their tiptoes and pecked Max on the cheeks. Then with more grins and giggles they walked off arm in arm like they had been BFF's all their lives.

Max face palmed,

"now I know I'm dead."

"From what I just saw your just about the luckiest dead man I've ever seen!" said Red

"Lucky," said Max, "That was the kiss of death!" Red Burst out laughing

"Last I checked, embarrassment wasn't fatal," said Red, "It just feels like it sometimes." That night after everyone else had turned in Deborah and Max talked.

"Max," she said, "I really Like Renee, I've only known her for a little over a week and it's like we've been friends all our lives!"

"Renee's like that, a very warm approachable person," said Max, "That's why I first fell in love with her back in high school, and now doubt why Prince Matthew of Aragon fell in love with her all those years ago."

"Max," she said, "I would love it if Renee could be my maid-of- honor."

Max shrugged,

"That's fine with me, ask her."

"Oh, I couldn't ask that of a queen," said Deborah shaking her head.

"Don't think of her as Queen of Aragon," said Max, "Think of her as Renee, the woman you just said felt like a BFF to you."

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to think about it!" said Deborah.

The next morning Max waited until Deborah had gone into town to the newspaper then he took Renee aside.

"Renee," he said, "Deborah and I have set the wedding date for next month."

"Congratulations," said Renee

"Thank you," said Max, "Thing is Deborah told me last night after you had gone to bed that you feel like a BFF to her and she wanted you to be Maid-of-honor. But I'm worried that Deborah is still just intimated enough by the fact that your queen of Aragon that she's going to talk herself out of asking you."

"That's nonsense," said Renee, "I'll be glad to do it, don't worry about my schedule I'll work something out."

"I thought you would," said Max, "That's why I thought I would go ahead and ask you."

"You're a good fiancée', Max

Later that day at lunch time K.C. and the Saddle Club were sitting together eating. The looked across the way to where Max, Deborah and Renee were sitting together talking. A split second later they started laughing together.

K.C. turned to her friends.

"You know," she said, "Mom told me last night that Max is a lot like my dad was."

"Really," said Lisa

"Yeah," said K.C., "That's one of things I'm going to regret the most when we have to leave in a few days."

"What do you mean?" asked Carole

"In the last few days here, unforeseen problems and all, my mother has been happier than I have seen her in years," said K.C., "She thinks she covers up her melancholy moods better than she actually does, I'm dreading leaving the place and the people that brought back her happiness so completely. You can tell by looking at her that she feels more at home here than she ever did at the palace."

"You really think so," said Stevie.

"Yeah," said K.C., "I do, and in all honesty, I feel the same way about this place."

############

Days later and all too soon it was time for Renee and K.C. to leave. K.C. hugged her friends, and they exchanged info and promised to stay in touch. Renee hugged Mrs. Reg, Max, Red and lastly Deborah.

Deborah fought back tears,

"I feel like my best friend is leaving me and I may never see her again," said Deborah have choking.

"Don't worry," said Renee, beginning to smile, "And don't cry, I'll see you next month on the 15th at your wedding. It wouldn't look for the Maid-of- honor to be a no-show"

Deborah looked up sharply,

"How did you? I lost my nerve and didn't ask you." She started

"You didn't," said Renee, "But Max did, it's all set I'll be there." Renee started toward the open door of the limo then she paused and turned back.

"Deborah," she said, "Max is a jewel and a treasure, treasure him. It you ever do anything to hurt him I will come back here and personally drop kick your head."

"If I ever hurt him that's exactly what I deserve." Debora smiled and waved

Renee climbed into the limo with one last wave. And the gang of Pine Hollow watched it got until was out of sight.

"Come on, Deborah," said Max, "Taking her by the hand, we've got a wedding to plan."

Lisa sniffed the air dreamily, "It's so romantic."

 **The End**


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